Kwon Dong-Hwan, “The Role of Protestant Mission and the Modernization Among Mangyans in the Philippines
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The Role of Protestant Mission and the Modernization among Mangyans in the Philippines1 Dong-Hwan Kwon Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary Introduction Various colonial experiences in Asia have shaped the social, political as well as religious landscape in Asia. The Philippines, long dominated by Western colonial powers—more than three hundred years under Spain and almost fifty under the United States—became the only Christian country in Asia with more than ninety percent of the total Catholic population in Asia. When the U.S. took over the colonial domination after Spain, various U.S. colonial and post- colonial influences were introduced and their political, economical and social systems penetrated into the Philippines (Goda, 1999, 2003; Hunchcroft, 2000; Abinales and Amoroso, 2005; Hidalgo and Patajo-Legasto, 2005; Go and Foster, 2005). And Protestant denominations based on U.S. have been operated their missions into the country through over a century. With the social, political as well as religious influx of foreign and Christian influences within Philippine context, the Philippines seemed to be a good place to examine the modernization process and the interaction with various foreign based Christian groups in the post-colonial era. In the study, the Mangyans in Mindoro, Philippines was purposefully chosen to examine the protestant intervention in the modernization process in a remote area in the Philippines. Known as the swidden agriculturalists in the island of Mindoro, The name, Mangyan is the generic term for the native people who settled in the island of Mindoro 600- 700 hundred years ago (Postma, 1974). They are geographically closer to Palawan with the group of Malaysia and Borneo during prehistoric times than Luzon and Visayas (Mandia, 1987). Some studies focused on religion and spirituality from indigenous aspects, which were also deeply related to rituals and social life (Pennoyer, 1975, 1980b; Leykamm, 1979; Mandia, 1987, 2004; Miyamoto, 1988; Gibson, 1983), but none of the studies have paid attention to the effects of evangelical endeavor in the national development of the indigenous people group, such as Mangyans. Therefore, this study seeks to analyze the protestant intervention in the development of modern Mangyan communities in Mindoro Island. Employing ethnographic methods with in-depth observation and interviews to understand the process of modernization 1 An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2010 Annual Spring Conference of Korean Association of Southeast Asian Studies, April 30 - May 1, 2010. 8 and the effects of religious works in a particular Mangyan community, the study particularly seeks to describe the three sitios (Sitio Siyapo, Baraas, and Calamias); analyze the current social and religious context of the Iraya and Alangan Mangyan tribes in Northern Occidental Mindoro, and determine the protestant effect on the modern development of the Iraya and Alangan Mangyan tribes in Northern Occidental Mindoro. Review of Related Literature Among the leading scholars in Mangyan studies, Japanese scholars are notable. Kikuchi (1973a, 1973b, 1974, 1979, 1982) began his study on the leadership and kinship systems among the southern ethnic groups in Batangan, Oriental Mindoro, which was based on Muradake’s theory of a cognatic society. He argued that the Batangan-Mangyan group confirmed the bilateral social organization theory that formal political leaders do not exist. It was a “caretaker” and “megico-religious leader” who took primary leadership among traditional Batangan groups (Kikuchi, 1973a, p. 7). Miyamoto continued to explore ethnographical studies among the Hanunoo Mangyan group on the kinship, leadership, funeral rituals, cosmology, law and other interesting subjects (1975, 1978, 1985, 1988). The community development work and research of Postma, a Dutch missionary to Hanunoo Mangyan in Oriental Mindoro, need to be stressed. In more than forty years of missionary service to the Hanunoo Mangyan ethnic group, Postma articulated the social problems of where he worked and described what his mission did to improve the lives of the people (1974, 1994), studied mission history of the land (1977, 1981) and translated into English the only written form of communication, called Ambahan, of the Hanunoo Mangyans. With other bibliographic accumulation of the written documents regarding Mangyans (1988), the Ambahan is valuable data for sociolinguists and anthropologists. Socio-historical studies were also done by both foreign and Filipino historians. Lopez (1976) provided local perspectives on ethno-historical studies on Iraya and Hanunoo Mangyans. Later, a German historian, Schult (1991) studied the social history of the island of Mindoro. He argued that the various foreign interventions and invasions to the islands caused the “delay in the development of the island in the modern history of the country.” With Swedish anthropologist Helbling (2004), they pursued the study of the peaceful nature of the people among Alangan Mangyan in Oriental Mindoro and concluded that the peaceful nature shown throughout the history of Mangyans is the very survival strategy they used in the face of various threats from outsiders including, Spanish colonizers, Moros, American colonizers and lowland Christianized Filipinos. Pennoyer, a son of a long-term protestant missionary, did extensive anthropological research on plants and the rituals of cosmology among Hanunoo Mangyan (1975, 1977, 1980a, 1980b). Later, ethnobotanical studies were continued by the Filipino scholar Mandia (1987, 2004) on the Alangan group in the Northeastern Mindoro. Both researchers argued that the role and the use of plants in the communities are deeply related with social and spiritual life. Before and after Mandia, there was a group of Filipino scholars who provided inner 9 perspective on the study of Mangyans. Maceda (1967) did the first descriptive study among the Mangyans in the northern part of Oriental Mindoro. Yet due to the lack of articulated research areas on the topic, the study was rather descriptive with no focus. Leykamm (1979) studied the diseases and their remedies of Alangan Mangyan in Oriental Mindoro. Similar to the findings of Pennoyer and Mandia, the researcher argued that the Alangan Mangyans believed the work of evil spirits in various illnesses and depended on the intervention of magico-religious leaders in the remedies. A more scientific study on health-related disease was done by Osteria (1985) among Hanunoo Mangyans in Oriental Mindoro. The research found out common diseases among the group and proposed suggestions for the remedies. Navarro (1993), on the other hand, studied on the legal aspects of the land as the ancestral domain of Alangan Mangyans in Oriental Mindoro, while Quiaott (1997) and Feraro-Banta (1985) compared the life and the culture as well as the concept of land between traditional and acculturated groups of Alangan Mangyans. Both confirmed that modernization through the government, foreign missionaries and other factors made significant changes in the life and social structure of the people. Based on the literatures, Mangyan studies clearly provided cultural diversity of the Mangyan indigenous groups in Philippine studies. They have communicated with the lowland Christians and continued to be influenced by them over four centuries. The previous Mangyan literatures provide cultural identities, worldviews and coping strategies in their lives. Yet, Mangyans are considered as the cultural group that has been least studied in the Philippine studies. Thus, it is also noted that further researches are needed in the area of Northern and Occidental part of Mindoro. Furthermore, religious studies in the Philippine studies are also focused on the indigenous religious practices rather than Christians or Protestant influences which is obvious in the contemporary culture of Mangyans. This study, therefore, is based on the distinctive cultural plurality of Mangyan indigenous groups yet extends their construction of religious meanings in the modern society, which is the influence of religious media. Research Methodology Using a qualitative ethnographic approach in the interpretive paradigm has guided this study, which allows the researcher to interact in the process of constructing meanings (Denzin and Lincoln, 2000, p. 4). Interviews were conducted during field research and the selection of interview participants purposefully used snowball methods. Observation was intensively used during three consecutive film showings in the community and during field work. The research was done in the three sitios of Siyapo, Baraas and Calamias, which are located in the northern part of Occidental Mindoro. The first local contact in this study, Ptr. Santi, proposed six places that he considered most needed. Considering the accessibility, convenience and needs of the film showing, Ptr. Santi decided on sitio Siyapo, Baraas and Dapdap for this showing, while sitios Landing, Dapdap and Ranao were dropped out due to the complexity in the schedule. 10 Results and Discussion Alangan and Iraya Mangyans in Three Sitios (Siyapo, Baraas, and Calamias) Known as the swidden agriculturalists of the island of Mindoro, “Mangyan” is the generic term for the native people who settled on the island 600- 700 hundred years ago (Postma, 1974). The Mangyans have gained the attention of the early Spaniard colonial Catholics since the sixteenth century. It was in the early twentieth century when ethnographers again paid attention to searching